Straight on the heels of coming to power on 7 June Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis organised a tour to Paris, Berlin, and The Hague to present his growth programme and to persuade foreign leaders that Greece is ripe for investment.

In his talks in Paris and Berlin for which preparations were made ahead of the Greek election Mitsotakis also reportedly managed to garner support for Greece’s foreign policy positions, particularly as regards very tense Greek-Turkish relations and the government believes that he is putting relations with Paris and Berlin on a new footing.

It appears also that the PM has decided not to raise his government’s top aim of lowering the primary surplus requirement – which was a key plank in his campaign platform – and to postpone that until after the Greek economy is on a sustainable growth path.

Ambitious energy, green development plans

Potentially the palpable result of the Mitsotakis-Merkel meeting is a plan for a joint investment programme in green technology, energy, renewable energy, and waste management, areas in which there is room for huge profits in Greece. That includes a privatisation of PPC of course.

The plan provides for the participation of the Greek and German governments as well as German and Greek investors in the framework of the Greek National Plan for the Environment and Climate.

Mitsotakis and Merkel said they intend to present a comprehensive programme in December.

The collaboration will be carried out through Greece’s Public-Private Partnership Organisation (SDIT), participations, strategic cooperations, and new greenfield investments